Sir Philip has retained law firm Schillings, a specialist in
defamation and reputation management. The firm has sent a letter
to Frank Field demanding "an immediate and fulsome apology"
within 24 hours for comments the Labour MP made on the BBC Radio
4 Today Programme on Monday.

Media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who owned the Daily Mirror, died in
1991 but it was discovered after his death that he had taken £440
million out of the newspaper's pension fund.

BHS, which was owned by Sir Philip up until May last year,
collapsed into administration in April with a deficit in its
pension plan
estimated to be £275 million. The plan was in surplus until
2009 when the funding shortfall began to balloon. However, there
is no suggestion in the joint select committee report that there
was any wrongdoing on the part of Sir Philip or any other actors
in the BHS case.

The Schillings letter reads (emphasis ours):

"In that interview you alleged that our client had stolen money,
specifically from the BHS and Arcadia pension funds. This
statement is highly defamatory and completely
false. Our client has never stolen any money from BHS,
Arcadia or the pension funds and you know that. In particular,
there is nothing in the recent Report of the Work and Pensions
and Business, Innovation and Skills Committees, (the Report) (of
which you were one of the Chairs) to support your allegation.

"Clearly an allegation that our client is a thief is likely to
cause him serious harm.

"Further, in relation to the recent Parliamentary hearings and
the Report and allegations made there you were protected by
privilege. That does not apply to the interview this morning (or
any others you intend to make).

"In the circumstances, our client requires an immediate
and fulsome apology in relation to the allegation (to be
agreed in terms of the content and manner by this firm in advance
of publication).

"We look forward to hearing from you on this point within 24
hours. This matter is clearly urgent as your defamatory
statements are being repeated in the media, for which you are
undoubtedly liable.

"The other remedies to which our client is clearly entitled will
very much depend on form and manner of your response and in the
meantime, all of our client’s rights are reserved."

Green clashed with Field, who heads the Work and Pensions select
committee, even before the BHS inquiry officially began. He
called for Field to stand down as co-chair of the inquiry in
May after Field told the Financial Times he would recommend
stripping Green of his knighthood if the billionaire did not meet
the pension deficit left by the failing chain.

As well as the legal letter, Sir Philip on has also responded to
the joint select committee report into BHS' collapse, which
heaped blame on the retail tycoon.

The report accused him of
taking part in the
"the systematic plunder of BHS" and accused him of running
the Arcadia Group, which owned BHS, "as a personal fiefdom." The
Taveta Group, an offshore Green family company that owned
Arcadia, is criticised as "the apogee of weak corporate
governance."

The select committee report was released first thing on Monday
morning and Sir Philip initially declined to comment when
contacted by BI but in an email sent just after 7 p.m. BST (2
p.m. ET) last night he made the following statement (emphasis
ours):

"I have now carefully read the select committees’ report and note
their findings. I believe that the report is the
predetermined and inaccurate output of a biased and
unfair process.

"With the benefit of hindsight, clearly Retail Acquisitions and
Mr Chappell [who Green sold BHS too] were a very bad choice as
purchaser on many fronts and I feel badly let down. Sadly, one
cannot turn the clock back. The disposal of Bhs was made one
hundred per cent in good faith and I still believe that we
provided Retail Acquisitions and Mr Chappell with the appropriate
finance (c. £200m of cash and assets) to take the business
forward.

"As I told the committees, I am trying to find a solution for the
Bhs pension and am continuing to work with the Regulator to
achieve an outcome.

"I am sad and sorry for all the Bhs people
caught up in this horrid story, but I do not believe that this
story is being in any way fairly portrayed."